Wife received debt collection letter

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Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1


Anything else I can do? In fact the agency is here in town.



If the debt itself is not legit....file a complaint with your State Attorney General.....it could be identity theft and someone used your identity OR it could be an identity thief attempting to secure more of your personal information when you call them. I would not call them.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
Yesterday in the mail was a letter to my wife stating this was a attempt to collect a debt. Now we are both confounded. This is a first. It's only $50 bucks but still.
We then checked her credit on the annual free report we are allowed. NO red flags.
The letter does give the name of the creditor. I plan to call them tomorrow to inquire.
I want to call the collection agency and read them the riot act. Our credit scores are very very high.
However I have since learned about a letter of validation. I am writing it soon.
This maybe a case of junk debt buying.
The date on the letter is April 21, 2016. I just read where the have 5 days to send validation documents.

Anything else I can do? In fact the agency is here in town.



I would not call. They are better on the phone than you. Always write. Send something like the following:

Under Section 809(b) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act you are required to provide me the full validation of the debt. What I am requesting is a document that states I actually requested a product/service from xyz company and that document was signed by me. This is different than just a statement or bill from them. If you are unable to provide that validation, then I request that you immediately stop all efforts to collect this debt. I further request that all communication with me be in writing.



This is the proper way to handle this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
If not on your credit report its likely old debt and thus I recommend ignoring it altogether.


Typically not answering within 30 days is legally the same as acknowledging the debt.

Answer slowly, deliberately, and save all correspondence both ways so you can keep your story consistent.
 
After some digging I found that company is PART of the medical group.
shocked.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
If not on your credit report its likely old debt and thus I recommend ignoring it altogether.

This is the only good advice here so far. If you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN it is not legit, simply ignore it.
 
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
After some digging I found that company is PART of the medical group.
shocked.gif




I recently had the same thing--I misread it as having gone to collections, while it was really to their collection department.

I hit the wall on that one. I'm not sure what happened to it, as my wife took care of it. Neither of us was very pleased. But it's been enough to make us not want to go back to that hospital, ever.

In my case I think it was because they mailed the first bill to the wrong address.
 
Yeah good advice. Ignore it and 5 years later if you need to get a loan your screwed. Bad advice! It's a medical bill and it fell through the cracks and often you never get the bill until its in their collections system.


Originally Posted By: Uber_Archetype
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
If not on your credit report its likely old debt and thus I recommend ignoring it altogether.

This is the only good advice here so far. If you are ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN it is not legit, simply ignore it.
 
Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
Yesterday in the mail was a letter to my wife stating this was a attempt to collect a debt. Now we are both confounded. This is a first. It's only $50 bucks but still.
We then checked her credit on the annual free report we are allowed. NO red flags.
The letter does give the name of the creditor. I plan to call them tomorrow to inquire.
I want to call the collection agency and read them the riot act. Our credit scores are very very high.
However I have since learned about a letter of validation. I am writing it soon.
This maybe a case of junk debt buying.
The date on the letter is April 21, 2016. I just read where the have 5 days to send validation documents.

Anything else I can do? In fact the agency is here in town.



I would not call. They are better on the phone than you. Always write. Send something like the following:

Under Section 809(b) of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act you are required to provide me the full validation of the debt. What I am requesting is a document that states I actually requested a product/service from xyz company and that document was signed by me. This is different than just a statement or bill from them. If you are unable to provide that validation, then I request that you immediately stop all efforts to collect this debt. I further request that all communication with me be in writing.



This is the proper way to handle this^^^^^^^^^^^^^^


1. Sent letter in the mail (Certified) with a copy of the letter sent, requesting full validation of debt in writing and request that they not call you.
2. give them 30 days to send you validation.

most likely it is a scam
 
If the debt is more than 7 years old and is not eligible to have collection attempts on it, any communication about it with a collection agency, etc. will trigger a renewal.
 
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
After some digging I found that company is PART of the medical group.
shocked.gif




call that medical group directly and ask them to check their records and tell you if there is any outstanding amounts, if yes, pay it after validating EOBs.

I had a collection notice for my mother, I had called the hospital every month to pay her bill and the end of every call I asked t hem to check if she had any additional outstanding bills which we could, it was NO every time and I asked them to make a note on the a/c.

So when I received the collection notice, I called the hospital billing dept and explained I had a collection notice and but I had made many attempts to pay...
She asked me to pay and she said that she will take care of the collection notice.
 
Originally Posted By: Alfred_B
If the debt is more than 7 years old and is not eligible to have collection attempts on it, any communication about it with a collection agency, etc. will trigger a renewal.


Payment will... written request for a DV (thats Debt Validation) wont.
 
Originally Posted By: stockrex
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
After some digging I found that company is PART of the medical group.
shocked.gif




call that medical group directly and ask them to check their records and tell you if there is any outstanding amounts, if yes, pay it after validating EOBs.

I had a collection notice for my mother, I had called the hospital every month to pay her bill and the end of every call I asked t hem to check if she had any additional outstanding bills which we could, it was NO every time and I asked them to make a note on the a/c.

So when I received the collection notice, I called the hospital billing dept and explained I had a collection notice and but I had made many attempts to pay...
She asked me to pay and she said that she will take care of the collection notice.


I did call today. This is what happened. We were making payments, the rep could see where we had been. For some reason she said the final $50.05 bill did not go out.
We never got it! So after a few months this went to the CA, which is part of the medical group. It is legit.
After looking at my payments I see the same thing, no $50.05.
She was very helpful and apologized.
This CA is not a CA per se, just a internal payment center and does not report to credit agencys.
So, I got bent out of shape for nothing, LOL. Darn.
Sending the remaining balance tomorrow.
 
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
Originally Posted By: stockrex
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
After some digging I found that company is PART of the medical group.
shocked.gif




call that medical group directly and ask them to check their records and tell you if there is any outstanding amounts, if yes, pay it after validating EOBs.

I had a collection notice for my mother, I had called the hospital every month to pay her bill and the end of every call I asked t hem to check if she had any additional outstanding bills which we could, it was NO every time and I asked them to make a note on the a/c.

So when I received the collection notice, I called the hospital billing dept and explained I had a collection notice and but I had made many attempts to pay...
She asked me to pay and she said that she will take care of the collection notice.


I did call today. This is what happened. We were making payments, the rep could see where we had been. For some reason she said the final $50.05 bill did not go out.
We never got it! So after a few months this went to the CA, which is part of the medical group. It is legit.
After looking at my payments I see the same thing, no $50.05.
She was very helpful and apologized.
This CA is not a CA per se, just a internal payment center and does not report to credit agencys.
So, I got bent out of shape for nothing, LOL. Darn.
Sending the remaining balance tomorrow.


Are they gonna report it to your CRs?
 
Originally Posted By: Spillips
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
Originally Posted By: stockrex
Originally Posted By: chiefsfan1
After some digging I found that company is PART of the medical group.
shocked.gif




call that medical group directly and ask them to check their records and tell you if there is any outstanding amounts, if yes, pay it after validating EOBs.

I had a collection notice for my mother, I had called the hospital every month to pay her bill and the end of every call I asked t hem to check if she had any additional outstanding bills which we could, it was NO every time and I asked them to make a note on the a/c.

So when I received the collection notice, I called the hospital billing dept and explained I had a collection notice and but I had made many attempts to pay...
She asked me to pay and she said that she will take care of the collection notice.


I did call today. This is what happened. We were making payments, the rep could see where we had been. For some reason she said the final $50.05 bill did not go out.
We never got it! So after a few months this went to the CA, which is part of the medical group. It is legit.
After looking at my payments I see the same thing, no $50.05.
She was very helpful and apologized.
This CA is not a CA per se, just a internal payment center and does not report to credit agencys.
So, I got bent out of shape for nothing, LOL. Darn.
Sending the remaining balance tomorrow.


Are they gonna report it to your CRs?


Nope! It was a mess up on both sides. Its resolved.
 
Originally Posted By: dlayman
Except maybe for Comcast.


Oh lord, some of my neighbors call them scamcast.
 
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
That's why you do your research before posting.


He began his research here, looking for real world experience to help prepare himself. If he would have waited until Monday and resolved the problem through the parties involved, we would have missed out on a very educational and eye opening thread. He would have posted that he looked into a debt. collection letter, discovered a mistake, and it was resolved. Instead, we learned about debts. sold to collection agencies and the scams that are often associated with this.

If this ever happens to me, I will now be prepared to handle it. Excellent post, OP! Thank you and the responders that provided some good info.
 
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